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CNN Live Today

An Uphill Battle

Aired July 21, 2003 - 11:29   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there's some wild action in the Tour De France today. American cyclist Lance Armstrong fell, but he did recover, and in fact, even managed to increase his lead over rival, Yawn Ulrich. Armstrong won today's 15th stage in what was, going into it, in his own words, a very critical stage for him. Steve Madden is the editor in chief of "Bicycling Magazine," and he says today could be the most crucial for the eventual winner, and Steve is with us now from Portland Maine. ' Good to see you, Steve.
STEVE MADDEN, "BICYCLING MAGAZINE": Thanks for having me.

HARRIS: All right. Hey listen, what do you think about what you've seen so far from Lance Armstrong? Going into today, today being the last day in the mountains, which is supposed to be his advantage, he hasn't been taking advantage of that strength of his up until today, but it appears he may have done so today.

MADDEN: That's right. There actually is one more day in the mountains, and Lance will need to do -- tomorrow is a rest day. So on Wednesday, Lance will need to do what he did today, because he needs to take advantage of his skill as a climber to put as much time between him and Ulrich as he possibly can before the time trial on Saturday.

HARRIS: All right. Do you know what the margin is right now? I know going into today's stage, the 15th stage, it was 15 seconds. Do you know what it is right now?

MADDEN: Yes, it's 107.

HARRIS: So he picked up quite a bit, then?

MADDEN: He picked up 40 seconds overall time. He had got a bonus as the winner of the stage. So all that time combined with the lead he already had puts him 107 up.

HARRIS: All right. So at this particular point, I mean, everyone expected that Lance Armstrong was going to take the field by storm through the mountains here. We haven't seen that happen right now. What is the difference between Lance of this year and Lance of last year?

MADDEN: Lance looks a little bit tired. I think he might be a little bit overtrained. He won a race just before the tour started. He's famous for training really hard in the months of April and May. But one thing you also need to remember is the fact that Lance was almost revolutionary in the way he trained for only a tour victory, and everyone else has started to train at the level that Lance has trained at for several years. So it's not so much a question of what's wrong with Lance, as it is how good everyone else has become. They've had to perform at Lance's level.

HARRIS: That's a great point.

So what do you think, then? Doesn't this really also showed just how much of an accomplishment five tours in a row is? And do you think Lance can pull this off? That's what he's shooting for here.

MADDEN: I think so, and I hope so, because it's great for cycling in America for Lance to win this. I think that if he races aggressively, as aggressively on Wednesday, as he did today, and he takes advantage of the mountainous terrain to put as much time between himself and Ulrich as he can, and as long as the postal service team helps him maintain the lead over a couple of flat stages on Thursday and Friday, the time trial on Saturday is going to make all the difference in the world. Lance needs as much of a lead as he possibly can have going into that, because Ulrich beat him by almost a minute and a half in the time trial last week.

HARRIS: So how much time do you think he needs to have -- what kind of pad do you think Lance really has to have? I know you say as much as possible, but if you could come up with a number, what do you think it would actually be?

MADDEN: I'd say two and a half minutes.

HARRIS: Wow.

MADDEN: He has a two and a half minute lead, then I think he can probably rest soundly Friday night. Otherwise, Saturday is going to be the stage to watch.

HARRIS: All right. Well, is there anybody else out there to watch besides Lance? Who is the big surprise -- I guess the biggest surprising performer that you've seen so far?

MADDEN: To me, the story of the tour has been the performance of Tyler Hamilton, another American racing for a Danish team. Tyler crashed in the first stage and broke his collar bone, and he's raced the entire way with a broken collar bone. And he didn't do so well yesterday, but he had a great stage today. And he's still in the top five. He's just -- he's tough as nails.

HARRIS: All right. And heading into this last couple of days here, is it over for Ulrich? What do you think?

MADDEN: No, I don't think it's over for Ulrich. He's a tough competitor. He's won the tour before, so he, like Lance, knows what it takes to win. He's got a reserve of experience that he can draw on, and he looks great. I mean, physically, he just -- he's racing like a champion. HARRIS: Yes, and to see them now being separated only by a handful of seconds here at a time, that's got to go a lot for the sport.

MADDEN: Oh, it's great. It's great for the sport to see something that's this exciting, that it's not a foregone conclusion halfway through the race who's going to win. I mean, we might not know really until Sunday who is going to win. And that's -- it doesn't get any more exciting than that.

HARRIS: It sounds like the Florida elections, the elections a while ago. It will be interesting if we see that here.

MADDEN: No hanging chads in bike racing, though.

HARRIS: Let's hope not.

MADDEN: Steve Madden, appreciate it.

HARRIS: Thanks, Steve. Talk with you later on.

MADDEN: Thanks very much.

HARRIS: All right. Enjoy watching.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 21, 2003 - 11:29   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there's some wild action in the Tour De France today. American cyclist Lance Armstrong fell, but he did recover, and in fact, even managed to increase his lead over rival, Yawn Ulrich. Armstrong won today's 15th stage in what was, going into it, in his own words, a very critical stage for him. Steve Madden is the editor in chief of "Bicycling Magazine," and he says today could be the most crucial for the eventual winner, and Steve is with us now from Portland Maine. ' Good to see you, Steve.
STEVE MADDEN, "BICYCLING MAGAZINE": Thanks for having me.

HARRIS: All right. Hey listen, what do you think about what you've seen so far from Lance Armstrong? Going into today, today being the last day in the mountains, which is supposed to be his advantage, he hasn't been taking advantage of that strength of his up until today, but it appears he may have done so today.

MADDEN: That's right. There actually is one more day in the mountains, and Lance will need to do -- tomorrow is a rest day. So on Wednesday, Lance will need to do what he did today, because he needs to take advantage of his skill as a climber to put as much time between him and Ulrich as he possibly can before the time trial on Saturday.

HARRIS: All right. Do you know what the margin is right now? I know going into today's stage, the 15th stage, it was 15 seconds. Do you know what it is right now?

MADDEN: Yes, it's 107.

HARRIS: So he picked up quite a bit, then?

MADDEN: He picked up 40 seconds overall time. He had got a bonus as the winner of the stage. So all that time combined with the lead he already had puts him 107 up.

HARRIS: All right. So at this particular point, I mean, everyone expected that Lance Armstrong was going to take the field by storm through the mountains here. We haven't seen that happen right now. What is the difference between Lance of this year and Lance of last year?

MADDEN: Lance looks a little bit tired. I think he might be a little bit overtrained. He won a race just before the tour started. He's famous for training really hard in the months of April and May. But one thing you also need to remember is the fact that Lance was almost revolutionary in the way he trained for only a tour victory, and everyone else has started to train at the level that Lance has trained at for several years. So it's not so much a question of what's wrong with Lance, as it is how good everyone else has become. They've had to perform at Lance's level.

HARRIS: That's a great point.

So what do you think, then? Doesn't this really also showed just how much of an accomplishment five tours in a row is? And do you think Lance can pull this off? That's what he's shooting for here.

MADDEN: I think so, and I hope so, because it's great for cycling in America for Lance to win this. I think that if he races aggressively, as aggressively on Wednesday, as he did today, and he takes advantage of the mountainous terrain to put as much time between himself and Ulrich as he can, and as long as the postal service team helps him maintain the lead over a couple of flat stages on Thursday and Friday, the time trial on Saturday is going to make all the difference in the world. Lance needs as much of a lead as he possibly can have going into that, because Ulrich beat him by almost a minute and a half in the time trial last week.

HARRIS: So how much time do you think he needs to have -- what kind of pad do you think Lance really has to have? I know you say as much as possible, but if you could come up with a number, what do you think it would actually be?

MADDEN: I'd say two and a half minutes.

HARRIS: Wow.

MADDEN: He has a two and a half minute lead, then I think he can probably rest soundly Friday night. Otherwise, Saturday is going to be the stage to watch.

HARRIS: All right. Well, is there anybody else out there to watch besides Lance? Who is the big surprise -- I guess the biggest surprising performer that you've seen so far?

MADDEN: To me, the story of the tour has been the performance of Tyler Hamilton, another American racing for a Danish team. Tyler crashed in the first stage and broke his collar bone, and he's raced the entire way with a broken collar bone. And he didn't do so well yesterday, but he had a great stage today. And he's still in the top five. He's just -- he's tough as nails.

HARRIS: All right. And heading into this last couple of days here, is it over for Ulrich? What do you think?

MADDEN: No, I don't think it's over for Ulrich. He's a tough competitor. He's won the tour before, so he, like Lance, knows what it takes to win. He's got a reserve of experience that he can draw on, and he looks great. I mean, physically, he just -- he's racing like a champion. HARRIS: Yes, and to see them now being separated only by a handful of seconds here at a time, that's got to go a lot for the sport.

MADDEN: Oh, it's great. It's great for the sport to see something that's this exciting, that it's not a foregone conclusion halfway through the race who's going to win. I mean, we might not know really until Sunday who is going to win. And that's -- it doesn't get any more exciting than that.

HARRIS: It sounds like the Florida elections, the elections a while ago. It will be interesting if we see that here.

MADDEN: No hanging chads in bike racing, though.

HARRIS: Let's hope not.

MADDEN: Steve Madden, appreciate it.

HARRIS: Thanks, Steve. Talk with you later on.

MADDEN: Thanks very much.

HARRIS: All right. Enjoy watching.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com